Origin, league history revealed

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Author and journalist Hugh Lunn will shine a light on the sometimes rocky and dramatic history of interstate rugby league when he delivers the 2016 Ross Livermore Lecture, titled “The Origin of THE Origin”.

Lunn's address will also recall his life in rugby league, from playing the game, to watching from the hill at the Gabba and from the terraces of Lang Park, as well as his interaction with players and officials.

He will give an insight into those turbulent times when Queensland administrators debated the merits of an Origin game, after NSW had dominated inter-state football for close to two decades.

Lunn has had a lifetime love affair with rugby league, starting at primary school at Annerley Junction in Brisbane, as detailed in his book, Over The Top With Jim, the biggest-selling Australian childhood memoir so far.

He also played for journalists rugby league teams, at a time when it seemed every young man in the media also yearned to test himself on the football field.

As a journalist with The Australian newspaper in the 1970s he won three Walkley Awards.

His book Vietnam: A Reporter's War was The Age newspaper’s Book of the Year in 1985.

In 2009, as part of the state's 150th anniversary celebrations, Lunn was made a 'Queensland Icon'.

His love affair with Origin football has even extended to the stage, with Lunn having penned State of Origin. The Musical.

The Ross Livermore Address, which is staged by the Queensland Rugby League and its History Committee, will be held in the Paddington Room, Suncorp Stadium, on Saturday, June 4 at 10am. It honours the memory of former QRL managing director, Ross Livermore (pictured).